Turnabout Inquisitor
by 801tman
Summary: After a detective was found murdered in an abandoned building, the police are eager to find the killer, especially since the killer follows the techniques of the long dead Inquisition and medieval torture. Phoenix Wright is summoned by Detective Gumshoe to prove his subordinate innocent of these heinous crimes. However, with the horrors that awaits him, can Phoenix find the killer?
1. Chapter 1

Note before the story. If you have a squeamish stomach, proceed at your own risk. There is a torture scene is this chapter, and in some chapters to follow. Again, read at your own risk.

The sound of splashing water filled the desolate, abandoned building. A small candle provided the only light. There, a masked man stood over a man, arms flailing, trying to raise his head for air. After a few seconds, the masked man relented and allowed his head to leave the water. Gasping and coughing, the man looked at him. "You'll…kill me…if you keep this up."

"Isn't that the point of torture? Painfully killing a person until he gets the information he wants?"

"I'm telling you. I don't know anything more than what the public knows about EK-7."

The masked man squatted and stared. "I know that's a lie. You were the lead detective for that case. You know more about that case than any other person on the planet."

The man looked away. Standing up, the masked man sighed. "I really was hoping that this wouldn't get any uglier than it had to be, Detective Urith, but you leave me no choice. Now I have to resort to less…unsavory means."

Detective Urith started breathing heavily, fear coursing through his body. The man walked up and slammed his head into the cold ground. Urith could feel his arms being tied, preventing him from fighting back. The man lifted him in the air and put him on a metal table, strapping him down. "You ever heard of the Spanish Inquisition?"

Urith was silent. Hearing shuffing, he looked up, in time to see a fist fly into his face. "Answer the question!"

Blood pouring out from his now broken nose, Urith groaned. "Yes…I have."

"Good, at least you are somewhat educated. As you know, the Inquisition was a Catholic organization that tortured Protestants and Jews, to either convert back to Catholicism or perish. Their dealings with these people were written down, preserved for future generations to know the 'atrocities' they committed."

The masked man took out a glass box, the top being left open. "One such atrocity, was pure genius."

The man set the glass box on the table. "Small animals were used in the torture too. Sometimes, victims were strapped own, unable to move, and all the vermin and filth was swept onto the poor soul. Disease usually followed, and medicine back then was…hit and miss at best. However, we don't have days, so I must speed things up."

The man reached down and picked up a cardboard box. Opening the top, he put on gloves and reached inside, taking out a rat. Walking over to the glass box, he set the rat inside. He repeated the process two times, and walked towards Detective Urith, squatting down near his face. "Detective, I'm a man better than the Inquisition. I am offering you one last chance to save yourself and tell me what I want to know."

Urith shook his head. "We have nothing to discuss."

Sighing, the man stood back up. "I was really that it wouldn't come to this. Listen, can you hear anything?"

Urith looked around. "Other than rats squeaking, nothing."

"Exactly. We're in a remote location. No one will hear your screams."

Taking the glass box, he quickly flipped it over onto Urith's stomach. The rats fell down and were scurrying across Urith's stomach.

Taking duct tape, the man strapped the box firmly onto him. "The Inquisition used this method on several victims. It's excruciatingly painful, and there was no guarantees of survival, even if the victim relented in the middle and converted back to Catholicism." The man picked up a small device. "This device is used to create heat, like a heater." He set the device on the glass box. "Again, I plead with you, tell me what you know."

Urith just stared at the man. Sighing, he turned the device on. "I really don't relish doing these sorts of things, but it has to be done."

Urith could feel the heat against his stomach. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you put the hot object on my skin rather than on a box?"

The man smirked. "Well, you don't know the Inquisition then. The rats have no way to escape the heat. The glass is too thick for them to break or scratch out of. Your stomach, on the other hand…isn't."

The realization of what the man was doing hit Urith like a train. "No! Don't! They'll kill me then!"

"You have the power to stop this Detective. Just tell me what I want and I'll remove the heat source and the box."

Urith looked around. "Fine! You win! Take that heater off before they start digging!"

The man smirked. Turning the heater off, he looked at Urith. "So, start talking."

"The critical piece of evidence was forged. The police were desperate to get a conviction, but the evidence was all circumstantial. The man was guilty, we all knew it, but without that piece, it was impossible to get a conviction. It worked and he got a life sentence. That's the 'big secret' about the case."

"I see. Thank you, Detective."

"Now let me go!"

The man stood up and sighed. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

"What?! Why?!"

The man turned back around and faced Urith. "You'll blab your mouth to the police, have them cover their steps, and that's something I just can't do. It's a shame, really." The man walked over to the box and turned the heater back on. "I'm so sorry, but your eternal silence is needed."

"No! You told me you'd take the box off if I told you!"

"I lied. The Inquisition also told lies to their victims in hopes of getting confessions or conversions."

The man started packing his belongings up. "Don't worry, your body will be found…or what's left of it. There is a business who will be touring this building in hopes of setting up a new factory. They'll be in for a gory surprise though. Half eaten organs, paths the rats will dig through their body. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a pile or two of vomit from the sight."

Picking up his briefcase, the man started walking out. "Be a doll and not scream when the rats begin to dig. I'd rather have a peaceful walk to my car."

The man gave Urith a wicked grin. "Goodbye, Detective. I'll see you in hell."

The man walked out of the room and down the steps. Half way down the building, Urith's screams penetrated his body. "Ah, they must have started digging. Exquisite."

The blood curdling screams continued as the man walked away from the building and into his car. Turning on the engine, he could still hear his screams. Slightly tapping his horn, the man gave a slight nod to the building. "It was nice getting to know you Detective."

Phoenix yawned and stretched as he sat up from his chair, trying to get the blood circulating. Walking out of the office, he spotted Athena and Apollo staring at the table, a game of chess in progress. "You two are playing ch—"

Both Athena and Apollo shushed Phoenix. Apollo took the bishop and moved him a few spots diagonally. Athena smiled and moved the knight. "Checkmate Apollo."

"No no. That's not checkmate." Apollo stared at the board for a few seconds before sighing. "Checkmate…"

Athena extended her hand. "Good game Apollo."

Apollo shook her hand. "Yeah…it was."

Phoenix cleared his throat. "Am I allowed to speak now?"

Athena nodded. "Yep! We just didn't need your voice ruining our concentration."

Widget chimed in. "Concentration is key in chess!"

Apollo shook his head. "Athena seems to be a mind reader, already having strategies against moves I haven't even made yet."

Phoenix laughed. "Well, she is an expert at psychology…so it doesn't surprise me."

Phoenix heard his office phone ring. "I'll be right back."

Walking back into his office, he picked the phone up. "Wright Anything Agency, this is Phoenix Wright, who am I speaking to?"

"You're speaking to me, Pal."

"Ah, Detective Gumshoe, what a surprise. Why are you calling me?"

"It's bad here Pal…real bad. He couldn't have done it! He just couldn't have!"

"Woah! Calm down there Detective. What happened?"

"Well, this morning, a couple of business owners walked into an abandoned building, hoping to scout it out and see if it'll be useful in making a factory. However, when they got to the fourth floor…they found a grisly sight. To top it off, the Chief is claiming that one of my underlings committed this atrocious crime!"

"What crime was it?"

"A murder Pal. A murder of one of our own."

"A policeman was killed?"

"Yeah…he was. He was the Chief's right hand man too."

"How did he die?"

"That…you'll learn later. Anyways, I told him about you and he wants you to represent him in court."

"By 'him' I assume your underling?"

"Exactly! Anyways, just get over to the Detention Center now!" The line went dead.

Phoenix sighed and put on his usual blue suit. Walking out of the office, he pointed to Athena. "Athena, you're with me. We're going to the Detention Center."

Athena jumped up. "Alright! Finally some action!"

Apollo sighed. "Why her and not me?"

"You were with me last case. It's her turn this time."

Apollo nodded. "Alright…I guess I'll keep an eye on the office while you're gone."

"Thanks Apollo!"


	2. Chapter 2

Phoenix arrived at the detention center with Athena. Walking in, he signed in and was escorted into the visitation room. Gumshoe was already there waiting for him. "There ya are Pal, and Little Miss."

"Where's our client?"

"He's being escorted here as we speak. I still can't believe the Chief would suspect him to begin with…there's just no way."

The door on the other side of the glass opened, revealing a uniformed officer being followed by several guards. He was heavily chained.

Sitting down, Phoenix picked up the phone the same time his client did. "You must be my client."

"I am. My name is Michael Perrit."

"Nice to meet you Michael. So tell me, what happened?"

"Well, we received a call from a pretty distraught man around eight this morning. I was the first officer on the scene and rushed into the building, where I met the man and a middle aged woman. They were blabbing and I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but they kept pointing to the other room. I told them to stay there and went inside. There…I saw a half-eaten body. I kept my emotions in check as I walked forward. I spotted a glass box strapped to the victim's abdomen…with three bloodied rats scurrying about through the hole they clawed and chewed through in his body."

Athena gasped and Phoenix was stunned. "Rats…dug a hole in his body?! Who would do such a thing?!"

Michael cleared his throat. "Well, hundreds of years ago, the Spanish Inquisition and other countries used this form of torture. It was actually allegedly practices also in a couple South American Countries in the mid to late twentieth century."

Phoenix looked at Michael. "And you know this…why?"

Michael looked down. "I was once in college going for a history major. I loved reading about the middle ages, and inevitably, I read about the various torture techniques of the time."

"That…could be bad…"

Michael chuckled. "Yeah…that's one of the reasons why I was suspected, but that's not the only reason."

"What's the reason?"

"Well…the victim, Detective Rick Urith and I, were at odds."

"'At odds?'"

"Yeah, you see, there has been a slew of home invasions recently, and I told him that they were all connected, but he didn't believe that was the case. Discussions about the home invasions then escalated into arguments, and personal attacks against each other. So put two and two together…I'm the suspect."

"I see…so other than those two circumstances, is there anything else that makes you suspicious?"

"…I'd rather not talk about that right now."

Phoenix could see everything turn black, and two psyche locks appeared. _Psyche locks?! I guess there's even more to this case than meets the eyes._

"Mr. Perrit, why should I represent you?"

"I'm innocent of this! We may not have gotten along, but there's no way I would have killed someone. Besides…my own parents were murdered years ago. There's no way I would do the same thing to a family! I know the grief that comes with it!"

Phoenix looked at Athena, who was tearing up. Phoenix then looked back at Michael. "Alright, Mr. Perrit, I'll accept your case."

"Thank you Mr. Wright! Thank you! Detective Gumshoe here speaks very highly of you. I'm so glad that you accepted!"

Phoenix nodded his head. "I'll do my best to get you acquitted and find the monster who did this. Now, what else can you tell me that would be beneficial for me to know?"

"The murder happened on the west side of town. I was on the east side at my girlfriend's house during the time of the crime."

"Can anyone else confirm this alibi?"

"My girlfriend can, and I told Gumshoe where I was going after my shift was over."

Phoenix glanced at Gumshoe who nodded his head. "He did tell me he was going to go to his girlfriend's after the shift, but he also said he was going to propose to her too."

Michael looked down. "That didn't happen…I lost my nerve when I got to the house. The police have the ring right now."

"Well, that's good news for us. The ring can be used as proof that you were at the very least wanting to go to propose and not murder."

Michael smiled. "Exactly!"

"Anything else I should know?"

"Not really, other than the address of the building."

Gumshoe took out a piece of paper and a pen and quickly scribbled down the address. "It's about a fifteen minute drive from here. I've been removed from the investigation, so I can't help you anymore than I already have. Good luck Pal."

Phoenix took the piece of paper and nodded at Gumshoe. "Thank you Detective Gumshoe. Don't worry Michael, I'll be back later today with what I have found."

Michael smiled. "I'll be waiting."

Phoenix walked out of the room, hearing Athena call out her goodbyes. Soon, they walked out of the building. "What did you think of him?"

"Do you mean Michael?"

"Yep."

"Well, I could tell that there was a bit of noise coming from his heart, but it seems like he honestly believes he's innocent."

"I believe he's innocent, but there's more to the story than he's letting on. I say we have to prepare for some skeletons to come out of the closet."

"I agree. Anyways, we should head over and start investigating!"

"Yeah, let's get going."

Phoenix waved down a cab, told the driver where to go, and waited for them to reach the destination. The cab drove up to what looked like an old warehouse. After paying the driver, they both got out of the cab and stared at the building. Athena sighed. "It looks like this came out from a horror movie."

"You mean you wouldn't want to live here?"

"Not really, no."

Phoenix chuckled and walked towards the building, immediately being met by a policeman. "Who are you? This is an active investigation. Authorized personnel only."

"My name is Phoenix Wright and this is my assistant Athena Cykes. We're here on the behalf of Michael Perrit."

"Ah, you must be defending Michael in court then. I was told to expect his lawyers to show up. Please follow me."

Phoenix and Athena followed the officer into the building. After walking up a few flights of stairs, the officer led them into a room. Athena gasped. "Oh my goodness…"

In front of them stood a metal table, soaked and covered in blood. "This was the place the victim was murdered. The rats were taken back to the police station, and the body is currently undergoing a second autopsy."

"A second autopsy?"

"Yes. Anyways, I was also told to alert the detective in charge when you arrive, so I'm going to do that now. Please don't touch anything that would hamper the investigation, which is everything." The officer saluted Phoenix and walked away.

Phoenix looked around the room. _It looks like we'll have a lot of work to do._


	3. Chapter 3

Phoenix walked towards the blood soaked table. "This must be where the victim was strapped to, unable to protect himself from the digging rats."

Athena shivered. "Please…I don't want to hear that. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it."

Phoenix glanced at Athena and back at the table. "If you look on the two sides of the table, you can see scratch marks. I couldn't imagine the pain and horror he was going through."

Athena looked at the marks. "They look deep too, like it was repeatedly scratched in the same pattern."

Phoenix moved on from the table and was about to walk a chair beside the table when he heard voices in the stairwell. Soon, an balding, older looking man walked through the door, quickly followed by the officer earlier. "Ah, you must be the defense attorney Mr. Phoenix Wright."

"I am."

The man stuck his hand out. "Detective Hart Gibson. Pleasure to meet you."

Phoenix took Hart's hand and firmly shook it. "A pleasure. Now, would you be able to fill me in on what exactly happened here?"

"Sure thing." Hart looked at the officer. "You can go back to your previous post Officer. Good work."

The officer nodded and walked towards the stairwell. "From what we've figured out, and I'm sure you were told, the victim was a fellow detective named Rick Urith. I actually worded several cases with him in the past. Anyways, we received the phone call about a body being here. When I got here, your client was with the people who discovered the body. I told him to come with me as we walked up the stairs. He told me the condition of the body and that rats were scurrying about. I didn't believe him until I saw it with my own eyes."

Phoenix cleared his throat. "So the rats were the cause of death?"

"Yes sir. If you want to get technical, it was blood loss, combined with organ failure. I requested a second autopsy to further scope what happened to the poor guy. You can have a copy of the first autopsy if you want. I doubt there will be too many differences between the first and second one."

Hart opened his briefcase with him and took out a packet. Phoenix took the packet and thanked him. "What caused you to suspect my client?"

"It was when we were waiting for the crime scene response unit to arrive. He told me how it looked like some medieval rat torture. I asked him how he knew this, and he told me he used to study the middle ages and how he knew several of their torture techniques. That caused me to be a bit suspicious, but the nail in the coffin was DNA."

"Where did you find the DNA?"

"All over the place. We found his blood on a pillar. Here, let me show you."

Hart walked towards a pillar and showed Phoenix several blood spots. "We originally assumed it was the victim's blood, but that didn't turn out to be the case. It was your client's blood."

"How would my client's blood get on here? He didn't have anything that was bleeding when I last saw him."

"He has horrible allergies and is susceptible to frequent nose bleeds. He admitted to having a nose bleed before he arrived on the scene."

"Are you serious?!"

"Yes I am. Now, that put major suspicion on your client, but that wasn't the final blow. After all, he could say his blood was there when he discovered the body while bleedin, but as regulation, we searched Urith's house, and we discovered it had been ransacked, with Perrit's fingerprints, hair strands, and blood all over the place. We also discovered a second set of prints besides Urith's, but they didn't match anyone in the system."

"So there may have been a second person involved then?"

"Possibly, but we have no way of knowing."

 _I better write this down. It could come in handy later in the trial._

Athena popped into the conversation. "So did you find anything else at the house?"

"From what other detectives who have been at his house before have said, most of the case files he worked on are gone."

Phoenix had finished writing down the note by now. "Why would a thief and murderer take case files instead of valuables?"

"We don't know. Most of his possessions are still in the house, though they were trashed. We're still considering all the options as to why. Maybe someone wasn't happy with a verdict at a trial and wanted to know how the investigation played out, but I'm sure that wouldn't be to kill for."

Phoenix shrugged. "People have done crazier things before. I've learned to never throw anything out. Always think outside the box."

Hart nodded. "That's a good philosophy to go by. Anyways, now to the rats. They're the most common type of rat, the Brown Rat. They're the type you think of when you hear of sewer rats and the like. We combed their blood soaked fur for anything useful, but all we found was Urith's blood. The rats are being kept alive in the laboratory for now, but that will probably change when the trial is over."

"I see. How long would it take for them to bury through human flesh?"

"A couple hours to completely escape. They probably created three separate holes that became one during their digging."

Athena by now walked away towards the other end of the room, unable to listen any longer about the rats.

Phoenix jotted down a few notes before looking back at Hart. "Who's the prosecutor for the trial?"

"I figured you would ask that question. I got word a bit before you arrived that the Chief Prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth, will be the prosecutor."

"Edgeworth will be the prosecutor?! Why is he the prosecutor?"

"A detective was murdered, in quite a gruesome way too. The city wants nothing less but the best working this case. They want the killer locked up as soon as possible."

Phoenix ran his fingers through his hair. "This could be an interesting trial then. Anything else I should know?"

"Not really, other than the results of the second autopsy will be given to you well before the trial tomorrow so you can thoroughly look it over. Anyways, I need to get going to report to Mr. Edgeworth about my investigation, and that you're the one who's going to defend Mr. Perrit. Are you done investigating?"

Phoenix looked around the room and nodded. "Yes I am. When's the trial?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Why so soon?"

"Remember? The city wants the killer behind bars quickly so another incident like this can happen. That means IF your client is innocent, the real killer is still out there, and we want our resources finding the killer rather than dealing with an innocent man. Anyways, I must be going now. I'll be seeing you tomorrow Mr. Wright."

Hart gave Phoenix a nod and walked out of the room. Phoenix turned to Athena, who was walking back now. "I think we should follow suit. We should go and meet Mr. Perrit before visiting hours end and let him know what we found. From the looks of it, it's going to be a much publicized, difficult trial."

Athena nodded. "Nothing too difficult for you to handle though. The evidence appears to be in our client's favor too."

"Maybe. I will admit a lot of it is circumstantial, but we can't ignore the fact that Perrit's fingerprints and DNA were found at the victim's house…I don't know. There's a lot more to this trial than what meets the eyes. Why would a detective be the target of a gruesome murder? Who's the second person who's not in the system? And since my client is innocent, who's the real murderer and when will he strike again? This is just the beginning."


End file.
